Self-Deception: Finding Harmony (3/3)

“But speak the truth, and all nature and all spirts help you with unexpected furtherance.”

R.W. Emerson, 1838, An Address

We continue facing the truth in the underworld and keep being gifted with solid materials to bring with us above ground.

They are heavy and our shoulders grow tired. But we also grow stronger and are increasingly able to bear the truth and any suffering that ensues. Brick by brick, truth by truth, we begin to build something new.

Like we knew it would, the truth once again comes along like a hurricane, crashing around us. It is a fierce and frightening force. We brace ourselves and endure. In its wake, our home is still standing. This is a stronger home; we are stronger, and the truth this time has not destroyed us. We open the door and go outside expecting to see destruction all around.

To our surprise, there is no such chaos.

In fact, the grass has grown, the flowers have bloomed, the birds are singing and the sun is shining. Our accordance with the truth is beneficial to us and everyone, and everything. By choosing the truth as our pathway in life, the world meets us in fellowship. We know that things eventually turn out badly when we lie; we know things eventually turn out well when we are truthful. That tells us that truth is right; it is the path we are supposed to be following and lies take us off that path into dark forests.

“’Beauty is truth, truth beauty,’ – that is all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.”

John Keats, 1819, Ode on a Grecian Urn

We turn to look at the house.

A few bits and pieces have come off. We don’t get everything right straight away; sometimes we are not even always aware what the truth really is. But we are looking and willing to bear it. We are closed to lies and open to the truth, and when we find it, it will become another solid piece we can add. We are constantly building our home to be stronger and more durable; in line with reality and compatible with the truth.

Truth is intrinsically good.

We know how the lies we tell ourselves and others corrupt us. With these lies we build a fragile fantasy that is not in line with the truth. Our perception is delicate, constantly threatened by exposure. On the other hand, when we align ourselves with truth, we start working with the world, rather than against it. There is harmony. There is still going to be suffering, because some truths are that life is difficult and tragic. But with our soul and character intact, we can endure these tragic truths of life. No longer fragmented, we are in balance and in unison with reality, not in conflict with it.

“In the mountains of truth you will never climb in vain: either you will get up higher today or you will exercise your strength so as to be able to get up higher tomorrow.”

Friedrich Nietzsche, 1878, Human, all too Human

Caspar David Friedrich, 1818, Woman in the Sunset

This is the final part of a three part series, find part one here and part two here.